Fire Rescue Plans Alley Station

New Site Will Cut Accident Response Times

Broward County officials say response times to accidents on Alligator Alley should improve dramatically in three months with the opening of a new fire station on the desolate highway.

The County Commission agreed in June to sublease land for the station at a rest area near Mile Marker 34, about 12 miles west of U.S. 27.

Firefighters currently respond to calls on the alley from their Weston station. But it can take them up to 30 minutes to reach calls at the Broward-Collier county line near Mile Marker 50.

Broward Sheriff's Office Department of Fire Rescue spokesman Todd LeDuc said the station, which has been in the works for several years, will be a trailer until a permanent station is built.

Although he couldn't cite specific numbers, LeDuc said the number of calls on the Alley has risen sharply in the past few years.

"At least once a day we're out there responding to calls," LeDuc said. "Many of those calls are serious accidents that tend to involve vehicles traveling at a high rate of speed that typically require some type of extrication."

In May, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that the Alley's fatality rate was on the rise after declining in the first few years after the road was widened -- even when adjusted for the growth in traffic.

Records showed a death rate of 1.5 people per 1 million vehicles on the Alley in 1986, the year workers began expanding the road to four lanes. The fatality rate dipped to less than 1 person per 1 million vehicles in 1992, when the widening was completed, then began an upward trend through the end of the decade. In 2002, the rate was 3.1 people per 1 million vehicles.

More than 150 people died in Alley crashes from 1986 to 2002.

The station will be staffed at all times with three full-time firefighters and equipped with a $300,000 fire truck capable of drawing water to fight fires, a $60,000 air boat to respond to calls in the Everglades and special tools to cut accident victims out of wreckage.

According to the terms of the deal with the Florida Department of Transportation, the county will sublease the land for $300 a year for 43 years. The rest area is part of an 85-acre recreation area that opened on the Alley in 1997.

Michael Turnbell can be reached at mturnbell@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4155 or 561-243-6550.